Easter Colored Deviled Eggs

If I've ever attended an event at your home, chances are I've brought along deviled eggs.  I love them - they seem to be a real crowd pleaser!  I could never go wrong with them.  So imagine the excitement of my family when I showed up to Easter with these last year!  Brightly colored pastel deviled eggs!

Not only are you about to learn how crazy easy these are to make, but also my recipe for deviled eggs is included.

Materials
18 Large Eggs
Food Coloring Dye
1 tsp of white vinegar per color

Instructions
1.  Boil eggs.  Simple enough!

 2.  Give eggs a nice ice bath to cool down.  Placing them in the fridge is good too!

 3.  Once completely cooled, peel your eggs.  My trick to get perfectly smooth eggs is to gently tap the larger end of the egg on a solid surface to crack and peel using the edge of your thumb.  Never use the tip of your finger!  You run the risk of digging your nail into the egg surface.  Smooth eggs are pretty eggs.

4.  After you've peeled all your eggs, it's time to gut them.  Carefully use a knife to cut the egg in half longways.  Remove the yolk and place in small bowl.  Once finished, set aside bowl for later.

5.  Now it's time to dye your eggs.  In shallow glasses, create your mixture.

Water + Food Coloring Dye + 1 tsp of White Vinegar Per Glass

Use a spoon to integrate mixture.  Remember, your eggs will dye a much lighter shade of the color in the glass.  For instance, the middle glass below actually came out a light purple.  The more food dye the better.
Place eggs in glass and wait.  My eggs took about 10-15 minutes.  Use a spoon to lift eggs and check color.

6.  Once they are a color to your liking, remove from glass using a spoon and lay out on paper towels "face down".  Allow to completely dry.

7.  Lay out in dishes and prepare to fill!

Deviled Eggs Recipe

Bowl of Yolks
1 cup of Light Mayo
1 cup of Sweet Relish
Paprika
Salt and Pepper

Fills 36 egg halves.

Combine mayo, sweet relish, and salt and pepper in bowl with yolks.  Using a potato masher, mash yolks and integrate ingredients.  Once fully combined, spoon into eggs.  Sprinkle paprika on top.

Happy Easter!

Pinspiration Friday: Easter Projects

It's been a while since one of these has popped up and what a better time than Easter!  

Check out these amazing Easter project ideas!

Easter Egg Garland

Grocery Bag Egg Basket

Ombre Egg Dying

Egg Bouquet

Easter Egg Garland 

For more pinspirational ideas,

follow my Easter Pinterest board.

Pickin' the Fixin's

Today was a super cool day!  My husband and I are in the process of building a house and have been anxiously awaiting our chance to visit the design studio.  We've chosen Taylor Morrison as our builder, so we knew we would have a ton of great options!

First, let me say, the design studio was every home owners dream.  They had models of kitchens to walk through, a wall of fixtures and cabinet options, and a room of flooring options.  It was a dream come true.

PLUS they had Gold Fish snacks!

Our design assistant, Vicki, was incredible!  She was so knowledgeable and helpful with all our decisions.  We had ample time to review their options packet beforehand, but when you stand in the studio, all that planning becomes a bit... fuzzy.  {What was our budget again?}  Thankfully, we had a great guide and she definitely kept us on track financially.  We couldn't be happier.

And seriously... look below!  Check out all the options we chose!

 I'll finally have my white cabinet kitchen!

I've always been told to spend your money in the kitchen and we certainly did.

We also upgraded the faucet {brushed nickel} and the sink {a deeper one}

We also increased the upper cabinets' height from 30" to 36".

With all the cooking I do, I'll need the extra space!

 While I do consider myself a pro at adding hardware to cabinet doors,

their prices were just too good to pass up.

Plus, while I love a good project, I don't want to move into a house we built

with a long list of DIY projects already in mind.

{At least not for the interior... the backyard is another story.}

If we were going to upgrade the kitchen faucet, we might as well do the other fixtures.

Right?

When we walked through the models {which are heavily upgraded}

we fell in love with these fixtures.  There's something very elegant about them.

Plus, they went so well with the door hardware we had chosen.

All of our hardware and fixtures are in brushed nickel. 

 We also spent a good amount of time discussing wiring and lighting.  

We had some discussions about wall outlets and standard recessed lights.

Things I never would have considered until going through this process.

Wait...you mean, lights on the outside of the house on either side of the garage

aren't standard?!

Oh yes, we had to pay extra to add lights outside the house.  

Oh, and a garage door opener - not included, my friends.

We added an outlet here and there.... prewired for ceiling fans in almost every room.

{Very necessary in Arizona}

Boy, did it start to add up quickly.

However, not as badly as we thought..

Soooo.

We decided to get shutters on the windows.

My husband could not be happier. 

The list could go on and on about the options we chose.

Flooring upgrades, handrail upgrades, moulding upgrades.

Apparently you can upgrade everything. 

Overall, we had a great time.  It almost felt too quick.  I could have been in there all day looking at their options and playing around with ideas.  But we knew what we wanted going into the meeting and are so happy we are well on our way to building our dream home.  

Very excited to take this journey with all of you.  Stay tuned for more pictures as our build process begins!  While I can only speak to our experience, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Upcycle: Cupcake Liner Holder

I was packing up our kitchen for the big move and I came across a hoard of cupcake liners.  I don't bake a lot but I love the look of them and they are lovely on display in a glass jar.  Somehow, I've accumulated a good amount of them.

In dire need of a packing solution, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, cupcake liners are round... Pringles cans are cylindrical {yes, I used the word cylindrical}... perhaps we can make some magic."

After eating an entire can of Pringles, magic did happen.  Check out this ultra-easy cupcake liner holder made from a Pringles can.

Materials
Pringles Can {empty and wiped out with a moist papertowel... do not get it fully wet... it is cardboard}
12" x 12" Scrapbook Paper
Double-Sided Tape {Optional: Scotch Tape or Glue}
Paper Cutter

Instructions
1.  Cut scrapbook paper to 12"x by 7.5".

2.  Lie face down and line edges with double-sided tape.

3.  Carefully line up edge to top and bottom of can.  Wrap full can with paper and push down on tape to secure.  If your paper is a little thick, you may want to use an additional adhesive, like Scotch Tape or glue.

4.  Place cupcake liners in Pringles can.

***In honor of full disclosure, I had two sizes of cupcake liners - standard grocery store size and a smaller size from Crate & Barrel.  The smaller sizes from Crate & Barrel fit perfectly.  The larger ones went in a little crooked, but I didn't want to force them to fit and ultimately, mess up their shape.  So the Pringles can solution is a great option but not perfect.  Don't get frustrated if your liners don't stack perfectly inside.

Household Manuals Organizer

Few things are as frustrating as an appliance or piece of technology breaking...
Oh wait, sure there is.... not being able to find the warranty or manual you need to fix said broken piece.

Solution?  Create manual binders to hold all the paperwork associated with big household purchases.

In the spirit of my 3 Month Crafting Challenge, I recycled office supplies from my stock.  {Thank goodness it was easy to find them in my Office Supplies Organizer!}  I used two 3-Ring Binders, old dividers and sheet protectors.  Cost = $0.00

20 Minutes and Done!  A beautifully OCD household manuals organizer...
Which came in handy no more than 24 hours later when I broke the viewscreen on my camera.  Fabulous.

Ah, old tab dividers from my History Nerd days...

How did we accumulate so many of these?

Piles and piles of manuals and warranties.

My Categories

Appliances

Cameras

Computers

Exercise

Fixtures

Furniture

Other - Craft Room

Other - Electronics

Other - Kitchen

Phones

Printers

Televisions

Handy Dandy Label Maker!

So organized!

Happy Organizing!